Israel's call - and ours

The following is from our mission's Lenten Devotional Series for this year that I wrote.

CRM Lent Devotional
Brought to you by CRM Empowering Leaders

Scripture Reading - Day 19

Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” (Isaiah 49:1-3 NIV)

Meditation

What greater quest can there be than for purpose? Our God alone has designs of purpose for every person, family, city, and nation—even before birth, as this passage declares, resulting in a symphony of praise to “display his splendor.”

Christian and Jewish commentators all agree that this passage refers to the coming Messiah—one of scores of passages that speak of God’s foreknowledge in sending his Son to bring hope and redemption to Israel and beyond. Israel had long since been given a mission—a mandate, even—to be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12:2-3). It is a theme repeated over and over again throughout scripture.

God is intensely interested in everyone’s purpose—everyone from every tongue, tribe, and ethnic group. Why does Isaiah call the distant islands and nations to hear about the Christ in verse 1? It is not merely for their salvation, but also for the restoration of their own sense of purpose as a people, as the rest of the chapter explains.

Like many of us who are products of a highly individualistic culture, I used to think of my purpose as being nothing more than the fulfillment of my personal dreams and desires. When I came to understand that my relationship with Christ demanded more than this, I started looking for purpose in the intersection of my gifts and passions, in answer to some need. There is another level, however. My purpose is two-fold. It is shaped in my relationships with those in the body of Christ whom God has put me alongside, and it is also shaped in my relationships with those who do not yet know God and who I am called to reach.

Purpose isn’t static. It is in motion like a constellation. Wherever God calls me, my purpose is to fulfill his sovereign desire for the redemption and restoration of the nations.

Questions for Reflection

How well-defined is your sense of purpose?
To what extent does your sense of purpose include those around you and God’s redemptive plans for them?
How would you help others expand their sense of purpose from being solely self-focused to other-focused?

Staff Bio

Lyle Thomas serves with his wife, Diana, and their three children in St. Petersburg, Russia, primarily ministering among and on behalf of orphans so these children can realize their God-given dreams and purposes.

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More thoughts on Family Ministry

Despite the fact that family/team ministry is where I want to go with our crew, I feel like I have barely scratched the surface of what this really means. Why is having a ministry as a family important?

First of all, I think it's a forgotten biblical value.

• God's mandate to Adam was for Eve and their kids (and theirs) too.
• God didn't save 8 unrelated righteous people from the flood. He intended for them to cooperate as a family in the re-population of the world.
  
• God seems to have been gracious to Lot, at least in part, because of his relationship with Abraham. He was certainly more gracious than He needed to be to Lot's family.
  
• The flip side of this principle, as these passages demonstrate, is that righteousness is best preserved in the context of family.
• Jacob/Israel's call was for his whole family.
  
• God's hand in the life of Joseph was for his brothers' sake. They all together had a family mandate.
• God gave the leadership of the departing Israelites not just to Moses, but his brother and sister as well.
• Aaron and his sons were the first priests.
• The promise was to David and his family.
  

There are a host of references to family in the New Testament - many of which talk about our relationship to the rest of the Body of Christ and as children of our heavenly Father. But how often do we stop to think about why the Holy Spirit chose this imagery? The figurative is always based on the literal and derives is meaning and principles from it.

Family is the basis of our belonging. It is designed to be the closest human model for how we relate to and serve others and God. Families carry curses, but they also carry blessings - and to many more generations than the curses. These blessings are not generic, either. They are specific kinds of blessings that replicate in successive generations the character traits and fruit that were modeled to us. How are those blessings, traits, and fruit most powerfully manifested? In the context of life purpose, call, and vocation!

Are not some of the greatest preachers those who come from a line of preachers? Are not some of the best tradesmen those who have learned and perfected their craft from their family heritage? Obviously these things can be passed on outside of the family, but my point is that we thrive best where we capitalize on the gifts that God has already given us, and many of these come from our family.

I'm not saying we have to have the same job as our dad. But look at the thrust, the momentum, the trajectory of what God is doing in your family in a spiritual sense as much as anything, and you will get some hints as to part of your purpose. Obviously purpose can come out of pain too. but if your ancestors were horse thieves, maybe that means they were operating out of broken gifts that should have been devoted to business building or something, and that core is what is really in your blood.

How do we distill it down? That's a big topic. The big picture is that we seek the fullness of our calling in the context of our personal gifts, family history, geographic call, and sphere of relationships. I expand on this idea some in a devotional I wrote for Lent here.

As for me and my family, I began seeking God for direction about 6 years ago, well before we were planning on coming here. God answered in a powerful way. I'm ashamed to say that it looks like that journal got packed away at my parents house. The essence had to do with being always prepared for adventure and given to hospitality as a central focus of our ministry. That much I do remember. But the point here is that at some point I want to revive that mission statement and begin to work with Diana to more intentionally map out some ways that we can build that preparedness into our parenting, homeschooling, and ministry experiences that we give the kids - all the time making the connections overt to them "in our coming and going."

Please give me some feedback on this one.

Small steps

I wrote my last post about our new ministry at the orphanage nearby just minutes before leaving for my first class teaching English there. I knew nothing of these children and wished I had hindsight right then and there. Well, now I have some hindsight and several stories under my belt.

Here's a recap:
week 1: Girls (12 - 14) with attitudes, but workable, I think.
week 2: Girls with attitudes get worse when rebel Andrei is added to the mix. This arrangement is smoothing out slowly.
week 3: I really do not want to go, but don't want to be a quitter either. These kids already have had people quit on them. I pray. I go. . . and I come home smiling. At last some small breakthroughs in my relationships with the girls in particular. New boy Igor is sweet and receptive to homework help.
week 4: Another good lesson, and I feel hopeful.

Now for a snapshot of Masha, one of my "attitude girls".

Masha is 12 going on 30: angry, grumpy, and disrespectful. She peers out from under her hair at me each class and tests me by saying rude things and making it clear that "English is boring" and "I don't want to be here." Yet, she reported to the administrator that she liked the first class. My 2nd lesson did not entertain Masha as hoped, and she tried to make life difficult. Week 3 I knew it was "make or break" time. I brought place settings, candles, and napkins to practice vocabulary and prepositions (Put your fork in your cup. Put your cup on your plate.) This approach was more to Masha's liking, and the atmosphere of our relationship improved. Some notes to self: hold Masha's gaze, smile, speak firmly, smile, wink on occasion, laugh a lot, and she might just show her sly grin.

Week 4 was special. Not 15 minutes in our preposition game (Put the blocks in your cup. Put the green block under the cup. Put the white and blue block beside the cup.) One of the administrators and a dear woman, entered the room with a prim looking lady (PLL), the English teacher at the orphanage school. We are introduced, but PLL does not bother to speak English to me, just Russian. Anyhow, the kids and I waited to continue our game while PLL complained and scolded Masha and the director for Masha's poor performance in English. Imagine getting reamed by a teacher in front of your peers for several minutes? No doubt some of you have. Shame-based learning prevails in Russia, and Masha was today's prime target. I decided to stay after class to help Masha with her homework.

Masha slumped in her chair and sulked during the tirade. I caught her eye a few times and winked at her. She smiled. Aha! An ally! After class, Masha and I sit alone together, while Lydia plays BINGO with 9- year-old Farida. This time was golden. I encouraged. I taught. I patted her back. I smiled. I laughed. Masha responded! After all, I am her ally now and can not be scared off by her disrespect.

As I leaft 46, I spied the director in an empty room. She explained that Masha and the PLL have a history of conflict. Gee, if I got reamed out in front of my peers by PLL I might start to "conflict" too!

I am so thankful I did not quit on week 2, and I eagerly await week 5.